Maravi

(HERALD) MDC-T: Conduit in US foreign policy

COMMENT - Excellent reporting and analysis. Especially juxtaposing Christopher Dell's proposals and Tendai Biti's itinerary is brilliant and systematic - we need more of it.

MDC-T: Conduit in US foreign policy
By Itayi Garande

SECRET documents released by whistle blowing Wikileaks on Monday show MDC-T as an unwitting puppet in the US plan for regime change in Zimbabwe, a charge President Mugabe has been making for the better part of the last decade.

A leaked cable sent to Washington by Christopher W. Dell, former US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, also directed to USAID, selected US embassies in African countries, NGOs like USAID, military centres in Europe, among other agencies reveals the US foreign policy plan and the MDC’s role in that plan.

The cable was also sent to Dan Mozena, then Director of Southern African Affairs at the US State Department. This is not surprising. During a March 23, 2007 Congressional briefing on Zimbabwe, Mozena and Donald Payne (Democrat), House of Representatives Chairman of the Committee of Foreign Relations, revealed continuing US Government funding for the MDC factions, Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly, civil society organisations, NGOs and the Voice of America Studio 7 Project through USAID and the US Embassy in Zimbabwe.

They also disclosed ongoing efforts with a number of other African leaders and to co-ordinate efforts with the United Kingdom, European Union, United Nations, African Union, and Sadc to ensure that regime change was achieved in Zimbabwe sooner rather than later.

Dell’s leaked classified cable was an important and sensitive document, which revealed and confirmed the Zimbabwe Government’s earlier regime change accusations.

It was sent to American embassies in Abuja (Nigeria), Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Kampala (Uganda), Nairobi (Kenya). They were also sent to embassies in Canberra (Australia) and France (Paris).

It was also sent to the United States European Command intelligence centre (USEUCOM) in Vaihingen, Germany; the National Security Council in Washington DC and to the American Joint Analysis Centre at Molesworth; the RAF Molesworth (a Royal Air Force station located near Molesworth) in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom and to the United States UN mission in New York.

The cable was a highly sensitive piece of information, and Mr Dell classified it under Section 1.4b/d of Executive Order 12958. So the matter is as sensitive as it can get.

The Senior African Director at the National Security Council works closely with the US President. The NSC is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. This means that the Zimbabwean issue is dealt with at the highest level within the US administration.

It seems that the embassies that received Dell’s cable, represent countries that were sympathetic to the MDC-T. Between 2007-2008, the MDC-T embarked on a major offensive in the African region and in the West with Tsvangirai declaring that he wanted "to cut Mugabe’s umbilical cord with Africa".

He visited the countries quoted in Dell’s leaked cable.

Tsvangirai himself, or senior MDC-T officials, visited all these countries in 2007-8. The trip to Ghana was briefly interrupted as MDC-T founding chairman, Isaac Matongo had died. Tsvangirai was to later visit that country in 2008, where he told a news conference in Accra that: "We believe the time has come for him (President Mugabe) to have an honourable exit," in line with US foreign policy. He added: "We are calling ... on every head of state in Africa to stand in defence of the people of Zimbabwe."

MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti held "consultative talks" with Kenya’s then new Prime Minister Raila Odinga on July 21, 2008. Tsvangirai visited Uganda (November 21, 2007), Nigeria (April 21, 2010) where he met with then President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ghana (April 22, 2008), Senegal (July 31, 2008), etc.

These trips, however funded, seemed congruent with Dell’s recipients of the leaked cable.

These revelations echoed similar pronouncements further afield in Europe made by Tony Blair, Lord Triesman and Sir Ian McCartney in the United Kingdom House of Commons between March 12 and 26 2007, and the publication of a report of the International Crisis Group entitled "Zimbabwe: An End to the Stalemate?"

The report marked the roots of Dell’s regime change move and a full description of the "managed change" formula was contained in that ICG report of March 6, 2007.

The idea of taking Zimbabwe to the UN Security Council was hatched in the House of Lords, after this report was published, and Dell travelled to London to discuss the US’ role in the post-Mugabe era.

It seems there was a "final push" now being envisaged as "the end of Mugabe was nigh".

Dell and Lord Triesman spoke with the same voice during that period. Dell’s idea was that the economy would eventually destroy President Mugabe and Lord Triesman retorted in the House of Lords:

"I have also heard that Mugabe anticipates carrying on in power well beyond 2008. I do not know whether that will happen, because his economy has more or less imploded."

Lord Lea of Crondall seconded Lord Triesman’s contention by declaring that Tsvangirai "is a former friend of ours, a trade union official and a great democrat".

The web was quite intricate.

Dell, in his communication, also reveals that he was working with Zanu-PF so-called "moderates" who had come together with the MDC to draft a "new constitution" as a basis for internationally supervised elections in 2010 — which would see Tsvangirai installed as president.

It has now emerged that the idea of an internationally supervised election was the work of Dell, who reported in the leaked cable that "The End is Nigh". It was not an MDC-T baby. This also sheds light on the US regime change strategy in Zimbabwe, and its possible hand in the harmonised elections of 2008.

In line with this design, the MDC formations were encouraged to unite behind the so-called "people-driven constitution" in an effort to postpone the harmonised elections from 2008 to 2010.

Tsvangirai failed to follow this US plan as Sadc, through former South African President Thabo Mbeki, was pushing for a negotiated solution.

This led Dell to conclude that "Tsvangirai is ... a flawed figure, not readily open to advice, indecisive and with questionable judgement" in the 2007 cable to Washington.

It seems that Dell, at his departure, was quite sure that his regime change agenda had succeeded, and that, with the help of the donor community, especially USAID, ‘change’ was in the offing.

He wrote: "Change is in the offing, we need to step up our preparations. The work done over the last year on transition planning has been extremely useful, both for stimulating a fresh look at our own assumptions and plans and for forging a common approach among the traditional donor community.

He makes an interesting revelation that was dismissed at the time — the revelation that NGOs were directly involved in regime change activities, in concert with the MDC-T.

Government briefly banned NGO work and asked all NGOs to re-register.

The MDC-T criticised government’s move, but it is now clear that government was right in stating that NGOs were exceeding their mandate and meddling in internal politics.

Dell’s leaked cable further reveals: "But the (regime change) process has lagged since the meetings in March in London and should be re-energised. It is encouraging in this respect that USAID Washington has engaged the Mission here in discussing how we would use additional resources in response to a genuinely reform-minded government."

He added: "I hope this will continue and the good work done so far will survive the usual bloodletting of the budget process."

While Dell admitted that African diplomacy was taking over the negotiating space, via mechanisms like Sadc, he however felt that the US should lead the regime change process in Zimbabwe, citing countries like Australia and Britain and supra-governance structures like the EU and UN as failing to "pack enough punch".

This puts a stop to academic arguments that the US was merely responding to a bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and its ally, Britain. The US, it can now be categorically stated, has its own interests in changing the government of Zimbabwe, divorced from the stand-off between Zimbabwe and Britain.

That means any negotiations on sanctions removal, e.g. the EU - Zimbabwe talks, are mere moot points unless they involve the US as well. Dell concluded: "The Africans are only now beginning to find their voice. Rock solid partners like Australia don’t pack enough punch to step out front and the UN is a non-player.

"Thus it falls to the US, once again, to take the lead, to say and do the hard things and to set the agenda."

Unfortunately, MDC-T is not mentioned in any of these structures. They are a mere conduit for the realisation of US foreign policy objectives in Zimbabwe and the region, and are a dispensable lot in Washington’s eyes. The sooner they realise this, the better for everybody.

itayig *** hotmail.com

Labels: CHRISTOPHER DELL, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, WIKILEAKS

posted by MrK @ 8:58 PM